The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Chapter 113 Death case resolved
Wang Wenlong was not surprised at all when he learned about Wei Tianjue's death.

With Gao Yin's methods, he would definitely not use a person like Wei Tianjue again, and Wei Tianjue had helped Gao Yin do so many dirty things. Since there was no use value, it would be most normal for Gao Yin to cut Wei Tianjue to death. choose.

With the death of Wei Tianjue, the turmoil in the demon book case has basically come to an end.

Both Wei Tianjue and Fang Baozhou involved in the incident have admitted the crimes they committed and signed the confessions. Officials in Fujian officialdom can pass the blame to the eunuchs, while Gao Yin was not affected at all because of Wei Tianjue's timely death.

Fuzhou officials began to try their best to collect the demon books, but the people still kept many copies privately, and only one out of ten could be collected. Even if the demon books secretly copied by private newspaper copying houses were collected, the content of the demon books would probably be much wider than what was distributed.

But for Fuzhou officials, the fewer the demon books collected, the better. The fewer the books, the smaller the influence of the demon book case. As for the versions scattered among the people, it is natural that the people will not investigate them.

All the people who helped distribute leaflets and print were imprisoned. Because the number of books confiscated was not large, and the Fujian officials did not want to make the matter bigger, they took stricter measures to deal with the remaining prisoners. light punishment.

There were only five main punishments in the Ming Dynasty: flogging, cane, imprisonment, exile, and death. In theory, local officials could only divide the punishments between flogging and cane for common people who committed crimes.Sentences of imprisonment, exile and death sentences must be reported to the Ministry of Punishment for review.

But in fact, local officials have very high discretion over punishment. For example, the punishment of wearing shackles in public is not among the five punishments. However, in actual use, the prisoners are put in shackles weighing dozens of kilograms and tied to the sun for a day. Even being deprived of food and water for several days can easily kill a person, and the only people who can restrict officials are superior officials and censors.

If this family has no face in the government, or if there is no scholar who can help redress their grievances, then they will really die.

This is how the so-called county magistrate of the family was destroyed and the governor of the family was exterminated.

With such potential for comparison, it is obvious that the handling of the demon book case is much lighter.

Except for a few people who were the first to print the book, who were reported to be exiled, the other people who delivered and distributed the demon book were all punished with whippings, beaten in the yamen, and then released.

However, several squad leaders from Fuzhou Prefecture took advantage of this to cause trouble. They arrested several storytellers and small traders who spread the news in the market, extorted money from them, and threatened to send them to the Yamen for justice if they did not pay. Some were unwilling to pay. He was also taken to the Yamen and given a beating.

Those shops that were unlucky enough to have been issued demon books were also visited to extort money, causing many traders in Fuzhou to become even more jealous of Wei Tianjue.

Wang Pingbao, who was inquiring about the news in the market, felt quite guilty after hearing this. Fortunately, all the problems were attributed to Wei Tianjue, who had been thrown into the mass grave, and no one came to scold him.

The tax supervisors under Gao Yin have also become much more restrained in their behavior after experiencing this incident. Many of them have connections with Wei Tianjue. How can they dare to show off when they suddenly lose their backers?
There were even some people who relied on Wei Tianjue's power to do evil and were too vicious. When Wei Tianjue died, the people wanted revenge. On the night Wei Tianjue died, the homes of several rogues who relied on Wei Tianjue were set on fire. .

After the news spread, the people of Fuzhou were even more excited. Except for some powerful tax supervisors under Gao Yin who dared to go to landlords and old wealth to collect taxes, how could most of them have the ability to offend the real wealthy people?Rather than getting rich by exploiting the common people at the bottom, the people of Fuzhou also suffered terribly from the tax inspectors.

Although Gao Yin was not eliminated this time, he would definitely send new people to collect taxes, but everyone was happy to see Wei Tianjue get retribution.

The news of Wei Tianjue's death spread, and the next day everyone in Fuzhou Prefecture made rice cakes to celebrate.

As for the Jin Yiwei, although they sent people from Nanzhen Fusi to Fuzhou, Wanli was under heavy pressure from the court to withdraw from the tax office at this time. It was very unfavorable for him at this time, and he did not want to make things worse, so Jin Yiwei also chose to settle the matter hastily.

Although Wang Wenlong, as a suspect and circumstantial evidence involved in the incident, was still in jail and could not come out for a while, the file of the case was sent to the Ministry of Punishment overnight. As long as it was approved by the Ministry of Punishment, Wang Wenlong would be cleared of suspicion.

Dalao, Minhou County.The prisoner took the food box and the books, looked at the clean young lady in front of him, and asked doubtfully: "Girl, do you really want to go in? Can't you just send someone to deliver the things?"

Li Guoxian looked panicked and hurriedly whispered: "Brother, please be accommodating."

Taking the piece of silver handed over by Li Guoxian, the prisoner smiled and said: "It's not a rule, it's just that it's rare for young ladies to enter this dirty place."

"If you can, then let me in quickly." Li Guoxian was anxious.

Ever since she learned that Wang Wenlong was in prison, she had been begging her brother to help her come and see Wang Wenlong. There had been rumors in Fuzhou that this matter had gone viral, and she was afraid that Wang Wenlong would be arrested and sent to prison. Li Guozhu initially also He was afraid that his family would be implicated, so he didn't want Li Guoxian to deliver meals. It wasn't until the matter was basically settled that Li Guoxian got the opportunity to visit the prison.

Thinking of Wang Wenlong being framed and imprisoned by Wei Tianjue, Li Guoxian blamed herself very much. She felt that it was all because of saving her that Wang Wenlong ended up like this.

Since Li Guoxian insists on going to jail, and he has nothing to say to the prison, we can't worry that Li Guoxian, a weak and elegant girl, can come to rob the prison?
Li Guoxian took the clothes from the maid's hand and followed him into the prison.

Many prisoners were dumbfounded along the way. They were locked up in a dungeon and it was rare to see such a decent person delivering food. Moreover, this girl looked as beautiful as a painting.

Although Li Guoxian was a little frightened by the prisoners along the way, he still followed the cell and walked inside.

Fortunately, the place where Wang Wenlong was arranged was relatively quiet. Turning around the statue of the God of Prison, Li Guoxian saw Wang Wenlong leaning on a plank bed in a single room in a daze.

Li Guoxian looked Wang Wenlong up and down and felt a little relieved when he saw that he was clean and without any injuries.

She squatted by the cell door and asked softly with concern:
"Brother Wang, how are you these days?"

Wang Wenlong never expected that Li Guoxian would come here and look at her blankly: "Miss Li Er, why are you here?"

"I begged my brother for several days and he said there was nothing I could do. I just got the chance to come in today."

Li Guoxian looked at Wang Wenlong with concern and asked, "Did they beat you?"

Wang Wenlong smiled and said: "I haven't committed anything. I've recruited everyone I can. Why are they beating me?"

The prisoner said hello to Wang Wenlong and went out.

When Li Guoxian saw people leaving, he quickly opened the food box and said, "These are some dishes I made. I didn't know how to cook before. I just learned them. They don't taste good..."

She tried to pass a plate of steamed bacon through the bars, but the bars of the cell were too narrow, and she was afraid of spilling it after trying it twice.

"It's all because of me...otherwise, Brother Wang wouldn't have ended up in this situation." Although Li Guoxian had already thought about not annoying Wang Wenlong by crying before he came, but seeing that Wang Wenlong couldn't even eat meat at this time, Li Guoxian was still in a mood I was so excited that I burst into tears.

(End of this chapter)